Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Paul Tuthill and Tom Wells.

The Chairman informed Members that Tom Wells had recently been involved in a serious accident at home and was currently recovering in hospital.  On behalf of the Board, the Chairman expressed his best wishes to Councillor Wells for a speedy recovery.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case XX xxx).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 March 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Leader of the Council, the Deputy Leader and the Chief Executive had been invited to the meeting to discuss the Leader's focus since being appointed, the process for reviewing the current Corporate Plan and the challenges ahead for the County Council.

By way of introduction, the Leader of the Council made the following points:

·       The Leader had taken up the role in January 2016 and, since then, the majority of his time had been taken up considering the impact of the 2016/17 budget settlement and finalising a balanced budget for the Council.

·       In the last month he had had more time to reflect on how to move forward.  He saw no reason to change the priorities identified in the current Corporate Plan and the budget as these had been democratically decided.

·       However, the current Corporate Plan was due to run until 2017 and would be reviewed over the summer.  It would be important to reconsider the Council's priorities in the light of today's context as things had moved on since the current Corporate Plan was agreed.  The Council was now a commissioning organisation and was looking to move towards becoming a self-sufficient Council.  To achieve this, the Council needed to look at how it could grow its income base and make better use of its assets.

·       The new Corporate Plan would go to Council in either September or November following a process of engagement with members of the public, the business community and other stakeholders.

·       The new Corporate Plan would drive the Council's vision for the next 5 years - to the end of the next Council.

·       The budget would be reviewed alongside the Corporate Plan.  It was already clear that the budget for 2017/18 would be a big challenge and the Corporate Plan needed to be developed alongside the financial context.

Members of the Board were given an opportunity to ask questions.  The following main points were raised:

·       The Leader of the Council confirmed that he did not feel that the Corporate Plan was failing but there was a need to refresh the Plan to ensure it related to today's context.  The world and Government policy had moved on, although the themes of the current Plan were still very valid: protecting children and vulnerable adults, the economy and business, and the environment.  His instinct was that the top level priorities did not need to change but he was open to views on this.

·       The commissioning agenda had also moved on and the Council now needed to look at income generation, better use of Council assets - such as buildings and land - and community capacity.

·       In response to a question about awareness of the Corporate Plan amongst the people of Worcestershire, the Leader acknowledged that there was always more to do in order to connect the work of the Council with the aims of the Corporate Plan.  The review of the Plan would include public roadshows, engagement with the business community and the Council would be open to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 919.

The Chairman informed the Board that, although he had hoped to be able to bring a draft 2016/17 work programme to the meeting, 3600 responses to the public consultation had been received and it had proved impossible to collate these responses in time.

It was agreed that:

·       The Chairman and Vice Chairman would complete a full analysis of all suggestions received;

·       A paper would be sent to all OSPB Members next week containing the Chairman and Vice Chairman's analysis with recommendations, plus a copy of the full list of suggestions;

·       OSPB Members would be given the opportunity to reply with comments, amendments and suggestions; and

·       The Chairman and the Vice Chairman would be given delegated authority to agree a final priority list to be forwarded to the May meeting of Council.

Members were informed that some suggested topics were not within the remit of the County Council and these would be forwarded to District Councils or HM Government as appropriate.

The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board was asked to:

(a)   Receive an update on emerging issues and developments within the particular remit of each Member of the OSPB, including an update on each Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Scrutiny Task Group;

(b)   Consider the Council's latest Forward Plan in order to identify:

·       Any items it would wish to consider further at a future meeting; and

·       Any items it would wish to refer to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Panel for further consideration;

(c)   Consider the update on the Integrated Health and Social Care Scrutiny Proposal;

(d)   Consider the update provided in relation to the Bus Transport Review.

Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The Panel had recently discussed the 0-19 Prevention Strategy ('Starting Well').  However, discussions had proved difficult as the details of the service design would not be clear until after the contract had been awarded, as it would depend on proposals by the successful bidder.  The Panel had agreed to look at this again in July when the preferred bidder would be known.

Following discussions at the last meeting of OSPB, a letter had been sent to the Leader of the Council, asking him to reconsider Cabinet's decision that future decisions relating to the Starting Well Service could be taken under the Cabinet Member's delegated authority rather than at a meeting of Cabinet.  A response was still awaited.

The Panel had also considered Educational Attainment in the County.  Although 88% of children in the County were now educated in schools judged by Ofsted to be good or better and Key Stage 4 results were above the national average, there was still further work to do at Key Stage 2.

In relation to Education Otherwise, the Panel had concerns about the safeguarding of children who were home educated and were not in contact with the local authority, and also about the safeguarding procedures of alternative providers.

Corporate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The Commissioning: Staff Terms and Conditions Scrutiny Task Group had met to consider draft recommendations.  The Group had felt that the recommendations were not quite there and had decided to ask a series of further questions of the Director of Commercial and Change, Legal Services, HR and Unison.  The task group would then meet again to consider its next steps.

The Chairman of the Board asked about proposals to change the opening hours of libraries across the County.  It was agreed that this should be discussed at the next meeting of the Corporate and Communities O&S Panel and, in the meantime, the Chairman of the Panel would discuss this with the Cabinet Member.

Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Chairman informed Members that the Committee's next meeting would be held next week.  Concerns raised about the future of the Orchard Project (palliative care for children) had been allayed following a meeting with the Director of Public Health.

The Chairman of the Board asked a question about a dental surgery in St John's, Worcester which,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 921.